Researchers probe for lost da Vinci mural

FLORENCE, Italy -- Researchers may have discovered traces of a lost mural by Leonardo da Vinci by poking a probe through cracks in a 16th-century fresco painted on the wall of one of Florence's most famous buildings.

The latest findings yesterday still leave much mystery in the hunt for the "Battle of Anghiari," a mural painted by da Vinci in the Palazzo Vecchio, and possibly hidden behind a fresco done by Giorgio Vasari decades later.

The hunt for the unfinished mural has captivated art historians for centuries, and took on fresh impetus in recent years with the use of state-of-art scientific tools.

Some believe da Vinci's mural, which he began in 1505 to commemorate the 15th-century victory of Florence over Milan at the medieval Tuscan town of Anghiari, may be hidden behind a newer wall, which was frescoed over decades later by Giorgio Vasari.

Da Vinci's "Battle of An-ghiari" was unfinished when he left Florence in 1506.

Maurizio Seracini, an Italian engineer from the University of San Diego, told reporters that the fragments of color retrieved by the probe in the palace's hall are consistent with pigments used by da Vinci. He said an analysis showed that the red, black and beige paint resembles the organic paint da Vinci used on his frescoes.

But the paint could also have been used by da Vinci's contemporaries in Florence, which is awash in Renaissance art. Seracini called the results "encouraging," but preliminary.

To find samples of pigment of the wall behind a space previously discovered under the Vasari work, experts slipped probes through areas where paint on the outer wall's fresco was either cracked or flaked off, noted Cristina Acidini, the head of Florence's cultural heritage and museums.

For one sample, a probe was slipped into a spot near a downward thrusting sword in Vasari's work. For another, the probe went through a point near the head of a horse, with its eye open wide, as if startled.

Seracini was inspired by the word's "Cerca, trova," ("Seek and you shall find") painted on a tiny flag in Vasari's work depicting a different battle.

Those who think da Vinci's work might be hidden behind the later wall painting contend it is unlikely that Vasari, famed for his biographies of Renaissance artists, would have destroyed any masterpiece by Leonardo.